The invention relates generally to a mechanism for protecting a human from the trauma associated with the bodily impact of ballistic objects. More specifically, the invention relates to body armor designed to shield its users from the dangers of large caliber, high energy, bullet impact. In greater specificity, the invention relates to body armor that can be actuated by the impact of a ballistic object on the body armor or by a user of the body armor.
Military personnel, law enforcement members and others can frequently be exposed to the threats presented by firearms. Bulletproof vests and protective body armor have been developed to counter these threats.
Prior art designed to repel these threats have focused largely on simply stopping an impacting object, with secondary emphasis placed on dissipating the impact energy of the object. The result can be success in preventing the object from achieving bodily penetration, however local trauma may develop which may ultimately cause serious injury if not death to the user of these designs.
Some of these prior art designs include vests or other garments composed of high-strength, lightweight fibers, such as DuPont Kevlar.TM. or Allied Signal Spectra.TM.. These garments, while significantly minimizing projectile penetration, still permit a significant amount of impact energy to be transferred to the user, resulting in a likelihood of temporary if not permanent local trauma.
Other prior art solutions have been designed with rigid panels that are held close to a user's body, usually in proximity to vital organs. While these panels are often successful in minimizing the penetration of even higher energy projectiles, impact energy from such projectiles can still transfer through the rigid panels and be adversely absorbed by the user's body.
It is further known to incorporate fluid compartments in body armor that are designed to dissipate impact energy over an enlarged surface area and hence lessen impact effects on the user of such a design. Some such compartments have been incorporated with pressure limiters, further permitting a controlled dissipation of impact energy.
While the incorporation of fluid compartments with body armor has had its attendant advantages, the compartments are often bulky and can have thermal insulating effects, both of which can limit the manual dexterity of its user.
There is thus a need within the art for a body armor system that minimizes the penetration and impact effects of high energy projectiles, while at the same time permits comfort and manual dexterity to its user.